Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
Mendelssohn (1809-1847) is a perennially underrated composer who finally may be coming to greater appreciation. Certainly this fine recording (in English) of a masterpiece that he believed joined the Jewish faith of his fathers with his own Protestant Christianity should not hurt his reputation. The superb Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel gives a dramatically charged performance in the title role, while soprano Renee Fleming sings with beauty and limpid understanding; the cast is almost uniformly strong. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus, directed by David Jones, sings with care and conviction, and Paul Daniel conducts his forces firmly. --Sarah Bryan Miller









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Disc 1:

1. Part I - Introduction: As God The Lord Of Israel Liveth
2. Part I - Overture
3. Part I - No. 1: Help, Lord! Wilt Thou Quite Destroy Us?
4. Part I - No. 2: Lord, Bow Thine Ear To Our Prayer!
5. Part I - No. 3: Ye People, Rend Your Hearts And Not Your Garments
6. Part I - No. 4: If With All Your Hearts Ye Truly Seek Me...
7. Part I - No. 5: Yet Doth The Lord See It Not
8. Part I - No. 6: Elijah! Get Thee Hence, Elijah!
9. Part I - No. 7: For He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee
10. Part I - No. 8: What Have I To Do With Thee, O Man Of God?
11. Part I - No. 9: Blessed Are The Men Who Fear Him
12. Part I - No. 10: As God The Lord Of Sabaoth Liveth
13. Part I - No. 11: Ball, We Cry To Thee
14. Part I - No. 12: Call Him Louder, For He Is A God!
15. Part I - No. 13: Call Him Louder! He Heareth Not
16. Part I - No. 14: Lord God Of Abraham, Isaac And Israel
17. Part I - No. 15: Cast Thy Burden Upon The Lord
18. Part I - No. 16: O Thou, Who Makest Thine Angels Spirits
19. Part I - No. 17: Is Not His Word Like A Fire
20. Part I - No. 18: Woe, Woe Unto Them Who Forsake Him!
21. Part I - No. 19: O Man Of God, Help Thy People!
22. Part I - No. 20: Thanks Be To God! He Laveth The Thirsty Land

Disc 2:

1. Part II - No. 21: Hear Ye, Israel
2. Part II - No. 22: Be No Afraid, Saith God The Lord
3. Part II - No. 23: The Lord Hath Exalted Thee From Among The People
4. Part II - No. 24: Woe To Him! He Shall Perish
5. Part II - No. 25: Man Of God, Now Let My Words Be Precious In Thy Sight
6. Part II - No. 26: It Is Enough! O Lord, Now Take Away My Life
7. Part II - No. 27: See, Now He Sleepeth Beneath A Juniper Tree
8. Part II - No. 28: Lift Thine Eyes To The Mountains
9. Part II - No. 29: He, Watching Over Israel
10. Part II - No. 30: Arise, Elijah, For Thou Hast A Long Journey Before Thee
11. Part II - No. 31: Oh Rest In The Lord
12. Part II - No. 32: He That Shall Endure To The End, Shall Be Saved
13. Part II - No. 33: Night Falleth Round Me, O Lord!
14. Part II - No. 34: Behold, God The Lord Passed By!
15. Part II - No. 35: Above Him Stood The Seraphim Holy Is God The Lord Sabaoth
16. Part II - No. 36: Go, Return Upon Thy Way!
17. Part II - No. 38: Then Did Elijah The Prophet Break Forth Like A Fire
18. Part II - No. 39: Then Shall The Righteous Shine Forth
19. Part II - No. 40: Behold, God Hath Sent Elijah The Prophet
20. Part II - No. 41: But The Lord From The North Hat Raised One
21. Part II - No. 41: Oh Come Everyone That Thirsteth
22. Part II - No. 42: And Then Shall Your Light Break Forth

Rating: - Excellent Recording!!!
As other reviewers have noted, it might not be the best *total* performance of Elijah (although it's still VERY good)....but Terfel gives the best Elijah performance that I've ever heard. If you haven't heard this recording, you are definitely missing out.

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Rating: - Excellent!
I listened to several recordings of Elijah and like this one the best. Given that the technical challenges to record this production would be huge, I think this recording is good. The chorus' diction is superb, and the soloists are exceptional.

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Rating: - Outstanding Performance Deserving a Better Overall Rating!
My intent is not to repeat the comments from the 'excellent' reviews already present, but to warn others who may be contemplating the purchase of this Elijah set to ignore the two 1-star ratings; first, the sound recording and dynamics on these CDs are outstanding - I'm assuming that the one reviewer has either bad audio equipment or was unlucky to obtain bad discs (exchange them!); second, 'wrong key' downgrades the rating to one star! As already pointed out, this is a HIP adventure, and the tuning of the key used is just different - ignorance of this fact does not deserve an ignorant rating.

This is a worthy performance - did not receive a top rating in the Penguin guide (not sure why not after reading the comments?); in the 'Third Ear', the set did get a glorious review (unusual for that book); and finally, in the 'Rough Guide to Classical Music', this version is the one recommended. If you want to own an Elijah set, do not ignore this one as a possibility - Terfel & Fleming are superb and the period instrument orchestra outstanding.

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Rating: - Mendelssohn-Elija/Terfel
This is one of the worst recordings I have ever purchased from Amazon. Many tracks of this sublime music are inaudible. Fortunately the music is "there". With about 8 hours of work, one can remaster the disks to produce a fine recording, but I would not recommend this for most people.

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Rating: - A prophetable experience
I've heard a lot of performances of Elijah, a well-crafted work that used to be more popular than it is these days, and this is an extremely good one. The musical direction is to the point, Fleming and Terfel are at their best, and the other soloists are extremely good. (Although I wonder if they originally tried to get an alto better-known than Patricia Bardon.) I'm also glad that there are enough soloists on hand: Mendelssohn asked for at least 8, and older recordings that make do with 4 (turning all octets into choruses, for instance) seriously distort his plan.

The pitch of the performance is a result of the use of period instruments and the tuning standard selected. There was no single pitch standard at this period, but the one selected is plausible and may be one heard by the composer. It is not a "transposition" or a distortion.